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Pests and Pollinators

&

Genetically Modified Food

AP Environmental Science

Mr. Grant

Lesson 62

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Objectives:

• Define the term seed banks.

• Discuss the importance of pollination.

• Describe the science behind genetically modified food.

• Evaluate the debate over genetically modified food.

• TED - The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside a vast global seed bank, buried within a frozen mountain in Norway, that stores a diverse group of food-crop for whatever tomorrow may bring.

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Seed Bank: Place where seeds are stored for short-term use in farming or for long-term preservation.

Define the term seed banks.

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Discuss the importance of pollination.

• Insects and other organisms are essential for the reproduction of many crop plants.

• Conservation of pollinating insects is vitally important to our food security.

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We depend on insects to pollinate crops

• Not all insects are pests; some are absolutely vital

- 800 crop species rely on insect pollinators

• Pollination = male plant sex cells fertilize female sex cells

- By wind or animals

• Pollinators include:

- Hummingbirds

- Bats

- Insects (bees, wasps, etc.)

Flowers are evolutionary adaptations to attract pollinators

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Conservation of pollinators is vital

• Populations of pollinators (e.g., bees) have plummeted• Colony collapse disorder = entire beehives have

vanished- Unknown causes—Insecticides? Parasites? Stress?

• Reducing or eliminating pesticide use and planting flowering plants will help preserve bees

Bees pollinate over 100 crops and contribute $15 billion in services/year

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Describe the science behind genetically modified food.

• Genetic modification uses recombinant DNA technology to move genes for desirable traits from one type of organism to another.

• Genetic engineering is both like and unlike traditional selective breeding.

• GM crops may have ecological impacts, including the spread of transgenes, an increase in chemical pollution, and indirect impacts on biodiversity.

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Genetically modified organisms

• Genetic engineering = laboratory manipulation of genetic material- Add, delete, modify DNA

• Genetically modified (GM) organisms = organisms that have been genetically engineered by …

• Recombinant DNA = DNA created from multiple organisms

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Biotechnology is impacting our lives

• Biotechnology = the application of biological science to create products derived from organisms

• Transgenic organism = an organism that contains DNA from another species - Transgenes = the genes that have moved between

organisms• Biotechnology has created medicines, cleaned up

pollution, and dissolved blood clots

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Some genetically modified foods

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Genetic engineering versus agricultural breeding

• Traditional breeding = changes organisms through selective breeding of the same or similar species

- Works with organisms in the field

- Genes come together on their own

- Uses the process of selection

• Genetic engineering = mixes genes of different species

- Works with genetic material in the lab

- Directly creates novel combinations of genes

- Resembles the process of mutation

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Biotechnology is changing our world

• GM foods are a big business• Most GM crops are herbicide

and pesticide resistant- Large-scale farmers grow

crops more efficiently- Most U.S. corn, soybeans,

cotton, and canola are genetically modified

Globally, 14 million farmers grew GM foods on 134 million ha

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What are the impacts of GM crops?

• As GM crops expanded, scientists, citizens, and policymakers became concerned- Impacts on human health

• Concerns over escaping transgenes - They could harm nontarget organisms- Pests could evolve resistance- They could ruin the integrity of native ancestral

races and interbreed with closely related wild plants

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Genetic engineering has benefits and risks

• Environmental benefits of genetic engineering:

- Reduced use of chemical insecticides

- Increased no-till farming

- Decreased irrigation, deforestation, land conversion

• Negatives of genetic engineering:

- Increased herbicide use affects health and habitats

- Some GM fields support less biodiversity

• Precautionary principle = don’t undertake a new action until the effects of that action are understood

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Evaluate the debate over genetically modified food.

• Many people have ethical qualms about altering food through genetic engineering.

• Opponents of GM foods view multinational biotechnology corporations as a threat to the independence of small farmers.

• Nations have adopted differing stances on GM foods.

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The GM debate involves ethics

• People don’t like “tinkering” with the food supply

• With increasing use, people are forced to use GM products, or go to special effort to avoid them

• Multinational corporations threaten the small farmer

• Research is funded by corporations that profit if GM foods are approved for use

• GM crops have not eradicated hunger

- GM crops do not focus on increased nutrition, drought tolerance, etc.

The GM industry is driven by market considerations driven by financial interests of corporations

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GMO producers are suing farmers

• Monsanto has launched 112 lawsuits against 372 farmers, winning an average $385,000 per case - Monsanto sued Percy Schmeiser of Canada for

using its GM seeds without paying for them- Schmeiser said the seeds blew onto his field from

adjacent fields- The courts sided with Monsanto, saying that

Schmeiser had violated Monsanto’s patent

Corporations go to great lengths to protect their GM investments

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The future of GM foods

• Europeans demand that GM foods are labeled

• U.S. consumers have mostly accepted GM crops

- They don’t realize most food contains GM products

• The U.S. sued the European Union before the World Trade Organization for hindering free trade

• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety lays out guidelines for open information about exported crops

- The U.S. has not joined

• Brazil, India, and China approve GM crops

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TED Video

Biodiversity warrior Cary Fowler wants to save the world from agricultural collapse, one seed at a time.

"For individual crop varieties, doomsday does come every day. We want to put an end to that."

Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food (17:06)